


Little Do You Know

by Elsey8



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Crying, Dancing, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Galra Keith (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Other, Slow Burn, Work In Progress, i love them, they're both idiots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-11 19:10:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9004291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elsey8/pseuds/Elsey8
Summary: "Why does he hate me?Why is he so damn pretty?He's so...good.Stay by my side.He's too much.Pathetic.I'm loved.He misses the rain.I think I love him."The Keith, he pines.WIP





	1. You & I

**Author's Note:**

> Tfw it was supposed to be one shot but is now a wip multi-chaptered fic

Keith:   
  
_ Why does he hate me?  _ _   
_ I pick at my food goo with disinterest, it's far less important than my current crisis.    
_ What did I do? _ _   
_ _ Can I fix it? _ _   
_ I want to fix it.    
I don't want him to hate me. He's a good person, funny, charming, sweet. Truthfully, I want him to like me. I want his affection more than anyone else in this ship.    
I want to be part of a family. I want to be part of this family.    
I can't though. I'm too much of a coward.   
That's what really makes me angry.   
Myself.   
I sneak a glance to the other side of the table, to my 'nemesis'.   
He's laughing, presumably at something Hunk said, and turning to Pidge to retell the joke, as if they hadn't already heard it.   
Something akin to fondness fills my chest and I force my eyes to return to my dinner plate.   
_ I don't like him. _ _   
_ _   
_ -   
  
_ Why is he so damn pretty? _ _   
_ "The names Lance."    
Said boy drops into an over dramatic bow and kisses the girl's hand.   
She pulls her hand back and giggles, purple flooding into her cheeks.   
Jealously, red and hot, floods into my being and I struggle to stay back.   
It's not like he belongs to me, we aren't even friends, I have no right to tell him who he can and cannot have in his company.   
Shiro sets a hand on my shoulder, reading my mind in an instant.   
"Let's go talk to some of the locals."   
I let Shiro drag me away, to where Allura and him are talking to the newly appointed King of the planet.   
It's a painfully polite and diplomatic conversation that I don't belong in. I stick out like a sore thumb, obviously uncomfortable with the questions being directed at me. Shiro, for the most part, ends up doing all the talking for me. I can't bring myself to actually listen to the conversation, instead I mournfully watch the other paladins. Hunk and Pidge gush on the sidelines about the advanced technology of the planet, as well as some leftover Galra tech. I wish I could go join them, but they seem deep into the topic, and besides, I wouldn't understand anything anyways.   
"Keith."   
I startle, spinning around and swinging at the attacker.    
Except it's not an attacker, it's just Shiro, who effortlessly catches my fist and lowers it.   
"Just me," he confirms, his gaze soft and his voice careful.   
Which normally, would calm me down in an instant, but the smirk on his face puts me on edge. When Shiro gets like this, it's never good.   
"Look." Shiro jerks his head to gesture somewhere behind me.   
I clench my fists and consider ignoring him, but curiosity gets the best of me and I glance where Shiro pointed out.   
It's the dance floor.    
At first glance, it's just the inhabitants partying like it's the end of the world. However, my attention quickly shifts to Lance in the middle of it all, teaching a group of locals dance moves, including the one he was flirting with earlier.   
"Tch," I growl, turning away to meet Shiro's knowing look.   
"Keith! Come dance with us!"   
Shiro ignores my grimace and pushes me towards the big group.    
Lance reaches out for me, taking my hand and tugging me into the circle. He laughs, loud and boisterous and uncontrolled. He spins me around and shakes his hips, dancing actual circles around me.    
"Come on Keith, don't be a downer. Dance!"   
Lance throws his hands above his head and rolls his body.    
Shit.   
The others try to replicate the move and fail spectacularly, eventually throwing copying Lance to the wind and develop their own styles. Then I'm left standing awkwardly, alone, even in a crowd of people.   
"Keithhhhhhh!"   
Lance takes my wrist and brings our bodies flush. I gasp and he giggles, lacing our fingers together and guiding us in some sort of barn dance. It's ridiculous and an unorganized mess, but it makes my heart flutter rapidly and my stomach fill with butterflies.    
_ I might like him...a little. _ _   
_   
-   
  
_ He's so...good.  _ _   
_ In a way I could never be.   
Lance sits criss-cross behind Allura, carefully pulling her hair into a neat braid. He talks rapidly, too fast for me to catch more than a few snippets of their conversation. It's just small talk.   
Lance meticulously braids flowers into her hair, his fingers working slowly, carefully. Every move is planned, and not once does he falter. It's almost effortless for him.   
I swallow hard, forcing the lump in my throat to go away.   
"Thanks Allura! That was fun."   
Lance steps back, squints at Allura and clicks his tongue. He turns on his heel and disappears. She purses her lips and reaches up to touch the flowers in her hair, as if searching for the reason of Lance's distress.   
"Aha!"   
Lance comes bounding back into the room and places a flower crown atop Allura's head.   
She grins, delicately touching her braid. She adjusts the flower crown and kisses Lance's cheek.   
"Thank you Lance."   
"Ah, it was nothing Allura." Lance doesn't even blush.   
He's been making rounds all day, Pidge's hair is wrangled into a messy bun that they've messed with so much it's barely staying up.    
Hunk's hair is somehow pulled up into a tiny ponytail.   
Shiro's hair is adorned with butterfly clips. Lance found a bunch in his pocket when we first got here, and now they finally have a use.   
I have...perhaps been avoiding Lance. Not on purpose!   
Okay a little on purpose.    
Partially because I might explode if he gets that close to me, but mostly because I feel like I don't belong. This is a fun little family thing they're doing, I'd feel like I was intruding. As much as I want to be part of this family on the ship...I'm not, I'm just not.   
"Keith!" Lance jumps on my back, startling me so bad I end up buckling under his weight.   
Both of us tumble to the ground, but Lance seems unaffected, quickly shuffling behind me and brushing his fingers through my hair.   
"I've been hunting you down all day. Were you avoiding me? It seemed like you were, you're so mean Keith. I was most excited for your hair, obviously, since it's always such a mess and honestly if I had my way I'd get rid of this hideous mullet in the blink of an eye. That'd be rude though, duh, and I'm a gentleman, so instead I'm going to settle for making it look a little better. If we were on Earth and I had all my products and such I'd fix you up in an instant! I don't, boo, so I'm going to make do, even though at my worst it'll be better than this disaster at its best. And there!"   
Throughout Lance's spiel, apparently he'd managed to wrangle my hair into two little braided pigtails. He digs around his bag, his tongue poking out the littlest bit, and his eyebrows furrow.   
"Aha!"   
Lance procures a beautiful flower and tucks it carefully into my hair, behind my ear.    
"It's a Dahlia, or it looks like one anyways. It...it reminds me of you."   
His cheeks flush a dark red, but he still beams at me and pats my head condescendingly.   
"I was right, by the way. It suits you, you look nice."   
With that statement, as if it didn't leave me completely speechless, Lance turns heel and walks away.   
I reach up and touch the flower in my hair, the braids that my hair is in. And I bury my face in my hands and fight off the red invading my face.   
__ I definitely like him, but only a little.


	2. Like I'm Gonna Lose You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whoops

_He's going to die._ _  
_ Even as I lug him into Red, desperately trying to staunch the bleeding and try keep him awake, I can't help but think he's not going to make it.   
"Hey Keith," Lance gasps, seeming to fight for every breath.   
"Please God…yeah?"   
I'm barely getting Red to help us get back to the castle, because she's mostly concerned with calming me down, considering how panicked I am.   
_He can't die._ _  
_ "You're cradling me in your arms again. D-don’t worry, I’ll remember this time."   
My body starts trembling without my permission, and I find tears blurring my vision. Why did he have to say it like that?   
_I don't want him to die._ _  
_ "Well you gotta survive first, okay? Stay with me, and then I'll make sure to let you gloat about how scared I was for the rest of eternity, just stay alive, yeah?"   
I am praying to every god that I don't believe in. Promising anything, everything, if only Lance can survive. The castle is in the distance, so close, so far, Lance's breathing is few and far between, his heartbeat is faint, I'm not fast enough, I won't make it, he's going to die in my arms, he won't ever know how much I care about him and-   
Red lands.   
I'm overcome with almost impossible strength, going as fast as I can with Lance, stumbling to the healing pods.   
_If he dies..._ _  
_ Coran takes him from me and settles him in the pod. All is quiet, Coran and I stay silent, waiting for the comforting beep of Lance's heartbeat.   
If he dies, he won't ever braid my hair again.   
I collapse on the ground next to Lance's pod and cover my ears.   
_I think I love him._   
I'm an ugly crier.   
  
*   
  
Lance's steady heartbeat is my anchor to reality at every given moment of my days.   
"Keith go to sleep."   
I lift my head, blinking the tiredness out of my eyes, and regard Shiro's outstretched hand.   
I don't take it.   
"He might wake up."   
Shiro sighs and tugs at his white tuft of hair, his gaze momentarily flickering to check on Lance.   
Still unconscious in the pod.   
"What would he say, if he saw you wasting away over him?"   
"Haha, sucks for you."   
"He would not. He cares about you."   
"You don't need to lie to make me feel better, Shiro. Not only are you bad at it, but I don’t want your pity speech right now.”

I curl up, leaning more heavily against the pod, the quiet hum of the machine soothes my anger and I glance at Shiro, still in the same spot as before.  
"Listen, Shiro, I'm fine. You should go to bed, I'm not pleasant to be around right now anyways, everyone knows it."   
Finally, Shiro groans and walks away.   
Only to return, with blankets and pillows, carefully arranging them on the ground and joining me, camped around Lance's pod.   
"Why do you insist on this?"   
"He was alone the last time he came out of here. Disoriented, confused, alone. Coming out of the pod isn't fun, Shiro. I know it isn't."   
"Huh. In which case."   
Shiro flicks my head, before standing back up and nearly sprinting out of the room.   
This time he comes bearing an armful of Pidge, Hunk trailing behind him, Coran sleepily leading the group, and Allura pulling her hair into a braid.   
Pidge smacks my arm, with a grumpy muttering of, "I had important stuff to do you know."   
They shove a pillow into my lap and settle their head on it, and with that, I have a sleeping Pidge on me.   
Hunk collapses behind me, leaning his weight on my back and promptly passing out. I look to Shiro for help, but he's too busy cuddling up to Allura near Pidge's feet. Coran ends up asleep on my shoulder.   
Then, as much as I'd like to complain, it's comfortable, and I fall asleep.   
_Maybe I am part of the family._ _  
_ _  
_ *   
  
Lance’s body slams into mine, and I fall to the ground, watching as the gun blasts a hole in his side. He stands, frozen, for a single moment, as blood starts flowing from the wound, before he collapses into my arms. I try to stop the bleeding but I can’t, it won’t work, there is too much blood and it seems like it won’t ever stop. 

_“Hey, don’t worry about it, yeah?”_

_Lance takes in a shuddering breath, eyes glazed over, his blood overflowing onto my hands._ _  
_ _Instead of a steady heartbeat there is a flatline._ _  
_ I jolt awake, breathing heavily in the quiet atmosphere, Pidge groans from their spot on my lap and turns to glare at me, only to catch the fear I'm sure is in my face.   
"Lance is gonna be fine. He's a fighter, do you think he'd let himself die without ever one upping you? Have some more faith, Keith."   
Pidge goes to lay back down on my legs, but ends up settling with their arms around my neck face pressed into my chest, a blanket wrapped around us.   
Like the little bother I never wanted.   
I'm about to say as much, before the familiar hiss of the pod opening reaches my ears.   
Pidge is faster than me, not surprisingly, but also not surprisingly, they cannot hold up Lance. So when he comes tumbling out and Pidge tries to catch him, they both end up on the ground.   
"Bitch, I'd rather have landed on the ground than your bony ass."   
_Thank god he's okay._ _  
_ Sometime in this exchange, the others had been roused from their sleep, and thusly had added themselves to the growing pig pile on the floor.   
"Hunk! I can't-oof-breathe! Shiro, I thought you were the responsible one, Coran your mustache really tickles, Allura you're way heavier than you look! Alright Keith, come join my suffering, looks like Pidge saved you a spot right next to screw you and go to hell."   
Purely out of spite, I worm myself into the little pile, and I am easily welcomed.   
Lance squawks out a complaint, but when is he ever not whining? Shiro throws his arm around my back and brings me closer into the pile. With some rearranging, we all manage to fall asleep.   
_I feel like part of this family._ _  
_ _  
_ *   
  
_What was I worried about in the first place?_ _  
_ "I heard you stayed by my side every day."   
"Well...I didn't want you to be alone."   
Lance rubs the back of his neck, his whole body tensing up for just a second, before he relaxes and pulls me into a hug. I want to push him away and tell him I don't like physical contact, but he's really warm and his arms are solid around me.   
_I feel loved like this._   
So I stay quiet, wrap my arms around his neck, and bury my face in his chest. I can hear his heartbeat from this position.   
"Thanks. I wouldn't have survived if-"   
"Shut up."   
"Rude! I-"   
"No I don't want to hear any what ifs, you're alive right now, and that's all I care about."   
I'm sure that Lance can feel me shaking, but he doesn't comment on it, only rubs slow circles on my back. His breath is hot against the top of my head, another reminder that he's alive.   
At this point, the hug is more intimate than I first anticipated, and what started out feeling like a friendly hug, now feels like a lover's embrace. Like I'm trying to assure myself that Lance is okay, like if I cling onto him tight enough, he won't fade away again.   
"Keith?"   
"Hm?"   
"Don't worry, I plan on staying right here."   
I love him.


	3. Stay By Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonding Moment ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Btw, the paladins have a telepathy thing going on with their lions. Red's speech is in bold

_ Stay by my side. _ __   
"Help me work on Blue today? She's still pretty banged up, but she's chugging along. I just need some help getting into the cockpit."   
Ever since Lance has gotten out of the pod, he's spent almost all his free time working on Blue.   
When he was...injured, Blue also got significantly damaged. 

"Mm, yeah. She's not letting you in?"   
Lance huffs indignantly, "No, her jaw just isn't working. She loves me too much to not let me in."   
And so I trudge over to where Lance is, covered in sweat, sleeves rolled up, gesturing up to Blue.   
"I just need you to boost me up so I can reach her jaw. Can I get on your shoulders?"   
_ Oh no. _ _   
_ "Sure."   
I take a knee, and Lance swings his leg over my neck and sits comfortably on my shoulders. That's the easy part, then I try to stand up.   
_ Oh god he's so tall and he's not exactly light why did I agree to this? _ _   
_ Lance's thighs tighten around my head when we wobble.   
_ Ah yes, now I remember. _ __   
Lance taps on the side of Blue's jaw, and the lights seem to flicker on. Her head turns and she lightly nudges Lance, still nearly knocking us over.    
"How's it going ol' girl? I'm going to try to get your jaw to open, so I can work on the inside too. Must be kinda messy in there, huh? Yeah yeah, I know, I'm sorry Blue, I was reckless back there, it was my fault."   
Lance pauses and takes a liquid from his tool belt, squeezing it into his hands and rubbing it onto the joints in Blue's jaw.   
"Try and move it now?"   
With a horrid screeching noise, Blue's mouth slowly inches open, just a little, barely enough for someone to fit in.   
"Success!"    
Lance crawls from my shoulders into Blue's cockpit, peeking back over the edge and holding out his hand.   
"Well let's go, slowpoke!"   
I take his hand, and he helps me into the pit.   
"Shut up Blue before I paint you bright pink. Mean! You'd never eject me, you're bluffing."   
Lance bustles around, checking switches, changing out lights, smoothing out scratches and indents, all the while talking rapidly to Blue.   
"Keith! She's ready to go, I just want to tidy up. Take her for a spin, she's antsy, ain't ya girl? Ha! I know, I know, Keith's gonna fly with you for a bit. The cockpit is a mess, let me clean up, I'll fly you afterwards."   
I stare in wonder at the human that is Lance McClain. Chatting with his lion like they've known each other for years, completely indifferent to the fact that I'm standing right here.   
"Keith, she says yes, just loop around this solar system, I've got my helmet in here, I'm gonna let the others know we'll be back soon."   
I nod, still a little dazed, but sit down in Lance's chair. The one he's yelled insults at me in, shot down Galra ships, given rides to weird alien chicks.   
I let out a heavy breath through my nose in an almost laugh and take the controls. Technically other paladins can't fly each other's lions, but Blue purrs under my fingertips and easily listens to my instructions. We fly smoothly together, although not totally in sync, it's not as hard as I thought it would be.   
I slow down at every planet we pass to look at the descriptions of each one, the species of plants and animals, the habitats and conditions there.    
"Woah, Keith! That planet has oceans! Well...maybe not exactly oceans, but they have big bodies of water!"   
I glance up at where Lance is pointing, the planet coming up does indeed have similar lakes/oceans to Earth.   
"Can we go? I want to swim."   
"Sur-"   
"Not you! I'm talkin' to blue, you fool. Move over, I wanna fly her."   
I move to stand up, but Lance hip checks me and squeezes into the pilot's seat next to me.   
"Shut up Blue, or so help me-I do not!"    
Lance gives a half hearted kick to the console, but as soon as his hands touch the control panel, he goes quiet. 

A content smile graces his face and he tightens his grasp on the controls. The whole room seems to shake in anticipation, Lance hasn't flown Blue since the crash, weeks ago at this point. 

“Yeah, I know Blue, I’m here,” he murmurs softly, so quiet I'm not sure I was supposed to hear it.

Then he straightens up, shifts around until he's half in my lap, and takes off. 

If Blue and I flew smoothly, Blue and Lance fly perfectly. They are totally together, Blue turns before Lance even does anything, and Lance moves to avoid objects before they even come into our sight. 

“Blue! Don't try stuff like that! Land us normally, show off.”

I snap back into reality, examining the utter joy on Lance’s face as we land on the planet.

_ Seeing him happy, makes me happy. _

 

*

 

_ He’s too much. _

Lance splashes me in earnest, laughing so hard he's barely making any sound anymore.

“Ah geez! Okay Lance, I forfeit, I forfeit.”

He hollers, diving back under the waves, probably to collect rocks to give to Blue(who already has dozens of rocks strewn near her legs).

However, I am proven wrong, when a hand grabs my foot and pulls me under. I am only submerged for a brief moment, before I shoot back up and breach the surface again, but I know it's already too late. Lance stands in front of me, mouth hung open, goofy grin already on his face.

“Your hair is curly when it's wet,” he points out, as if it wasn't already obvious.

“I know.”

Lance tackles me, winding his legs around my waist before we both go down. I get up, struggling with Lance latched onto me, but still managing.

“It's so cute!” he squeals, running his hand all through my hair.

His fingers catch on knots and it doesn't feel particularly nice while my hair is wet, but the sentiment is still there. I waddle through the water back to shore, lugging Lance back to the shade of Blue. 

“Blue! Isn't his hair adorable like this? Oh shush, I know-” Lance yawns loudly, blinking rapidly, before resuming his spiel, “-you think that, you tell me all the...I'm not tired!”

Lance huffs and smacks the metal of Blue’s paw, only to retract his hand and shake it out, grimacing. 

“Okay, a little.”

Lance falls sideways, resting his head on my lap and curling up.

“Do you mind?”

_ Yes. _

“Of course not.”

_ What the hell @me. _

Within moments, Lance is fast asleep on top of me, his breathing and heart beat steady.

_ What have I gotten myself into? _

 

-

 

_ Pathetic.  _

I sit in my room, alone, closed off from the rest of the paladins. From the rest of the castle. From the rest of the universe.

_ Stupid. _

I love Lance, his smile, his hair, his jokes, his dancing, his swimming, his pranks, his beauty techniques, anything and everything. 

_ I’m an idiot. _

_ For wanting to be part of this family, for seeking love.  _

_ For wanting Lance to want me. _

_ I'm an idiot, and I'm alone. _

**You are an idiot, but not for the reasons you think.**

“Red I don't wanna talk right now,” I complain into my pillow, even though I know she won't leave it be.

**Come.**

“No,” I whine, trying to burrow more into my bed.

**Keith.**

I throw my covers off and grumpily leave my room. Padding through the empty corridors, I am once more reminded that I'm alone.

**Keith, you have me.**

“You don't count, you have to stick around,” I mutter, finally reaching Red’s hangar.

**I absolutely do not have to. I could leave if I wanted, but I don't. I have chosen you as my paladin, because no other is more worthy than you.**

_ Lies, I’m worthless. _

Red lowers to the ground and opens her jaw, offering entrance to the cockpit. I sigh and easily climb inside, cuddling up in the pilot's chair. 

**Feel better?**

“A little,” I admit, settling into the familiarity with ease.

**I'm going to ask Blue to summon Lance.**

“No! I can't see him right now.”

**Yes, I understand. I have a better idea.**

“No it's fine like this Red.”

**I hear you, but I refuse to listen.**

I settle farther into my spot, comforted by the warmth that Red emits. She's more than a machine, she is a rock, my rock. My one true comfort in this unforgiving universe.

“Keith?”

**Finally.**

Pidge stands just outside my lion, looking in, worry written in their features, but they don't step inside.

“Come in!” I call, my voice somehow hoarser than it was just a few minutes ago.

**You've been crying.**

I hurriedly wipe the tear tracks from my face just as Pidge is coming up to the chair I reside in. They wordlessly climb into it with me, worming their way into my arms, head resting on my shoulder.

“I get it,” Pidge whispers, their fingers slowly working through my hair, untangling the knots and smoothing it out. 

**Everything okay now, Keith?**

“Mm, thanks Red.”

Pidge hugs me tighter.

**Feel better, okay?**

“Yeah.”

_ I really am part of this family. _

**I agree, Keith.**

 

*

 

_ I’m loved. _

**Of course.**

_ Pidge loves me. _

**They really do.**

_ Shiro loves me. _

**Yes, he for sure does.**

_ Hunk probably does. _

**Of course he does.**

_ Perhaps the princess and Coran too? _

**I’m sure they do.**

_ Do you? _

**What a ridiculous question. Duh.**

_ You're a giant mechanical robot lion, can you love? _

**I can very much love. And I love you.**

_ I love you. _

**I love you.**

_ Wow. _

**What about Lance? He loves you too.**

_ No. _

**Yes.**

_ He doesn't. _

**He does.**

_ Shut up, he can't. _

**He can, and he does. Now please, your small, angry friend is waking up.**

“Keith?” Pidge yawns, stretching out their legs and laying themselves out over my lap. “I'm hungry.”

I stretch out the crick in my neck, lightly pushing Pidge off my lap.

“Let's go kiddo, before Mom comes and yells at us.”

“Lance?”

“Yeah. You know he will.”

“Ugh. Fine. Carry me?”

I glance down to tell them no, but their eyes are big and brown and  _ begging _ .

“Okay.”

_ I am weak. _

**You are.**

“I don't need your shit this early in the morning, Red!” I say, perhaps a bit too loudly. 

“Language, Keith,” Pidge scolds, as they hold their hands up.

I sigh and scoop my arms under their knees and back, before heaving them up and hugging them close to my body. 

“I'm gonna throw out my back! When did you get so heavy? I feel like you were lighter when we first got here.”

“You see it was all the calorie heavy food goo actually. I did a study on this with Hunk, the food goo is really disgusting, sure, but it's high in nutrients and calories, so even with all the excessive exercise, we still don't lose weight, we even gain weight.”

“That's actually...really interesting, tell me more.”

“Yeah, there's lots of vitamins in it, most notably, Vitamin C, which there's a high c-”

“Did you two sleep in Red last night?!”

“Oh my god Keith, you can tell the future, Mom came to yell at us.”

Lance stands blocking the way to the dining hall, hands on his hips and head cocked to the side.

“And now you're sassing me. You two are in loads of trouble.”

I slowly set Pidge down and duck around Lance to sit at the table, with Pidge yelling, “Sabotage! I thought we had a bonding moment! You  _ cradled me in your arms! _ ”

_ I love my family. _


	4. Can't Help Falling in Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is gay

 

_It's the simple things._

It's sudden, in the middle of the day, Lance is across from me, trying to balance spoons on his face, when it hits me.

_I'm falling in love with him._

“Ta-da!”

All the spoons fall off his face onto the floor, and there's a brief pause where he just stares at the fallen spoons, face screwed up in confusion, before he starts laughing.

“It was bound to happen.”

_Damn it._

“Earth to Keith, I bet you couldn't do half the amount I did.”

_Why did my heart choose this idiot?_

“If you can I'll…um. I dunno. You can choose. But if you can't, you have to come back to this planet with me, it rains there!”

“I want bragging rights if I win.”

“Fair. Okay I got up to 30 spoons. If you can do 16, you win. If you can't we’re going right now.”

I pick up the spoons and tilt my head back, precariously stacking spoons one by one. I'm up to 13 when I see Lance move in closer, presumably to count the spoons, but as soon as his breath huffs against my face I'm a goner.

The spoons fall, my cheeks are on fire, and Lance is still _too close._

“Ha! I win. Let's go, we’re taking Blue!”

_Seriously, heart? This one, you're sure?_

I bury my face in my hands and run my fingers through my hair to try and tame it before Lance and I’s adventure or whatever.

“Here, I'll braid it before we go, c’mon!”

Lance slips out of his jacket and digs through the pockets, procuring a few hair ties.

“Alright. Come here, I'll be quick.”

_Oh god._

His hands work quickly, pulling my hair back into a braid, and he tucks the stray hair behind my ears.

“You look beautiful, alright, let's go!”

_Oh._

Color floods into my cheeks as Lance tugs me along.

_He called me beautiful._

**You're gay Keith, I get it. Please, I'm trying to get your small, angry friend out of my cockpit. They're tinkering around in here, it's quite uncomfortable. I need to concentrate, they're very elusive, like a snake, but with evil intents and opposable thumbs.**

I bust out laughing, letting go of Lance’s hand so I can clutch my stomach.

“Sorry Red,” I manage to gasp, glancing towards where she'd be.

**It's quite alright. Although it'd be more alright if you came to help me chase it out.**

“Pidge is a them, not an it, and no thanks. I'm busy.”

Lance stares at me as he slowly walks towards Blue, until I come to match him and he breaks into a sprint.

“Race me slowpoke!”

I run after him, my shoes slipping slightly at first, giving him a head start, but I easily catch up.

Even though his legs are longer, I'm just faster.

I  go slam my hand against Blue’s leg, to signify victory, but she leaps out of the way, towards Lance. He sets his hand on her paw and sticks his tongue out at me.

“That wasn't fair!” I whine.

“I won,” he huffs, climbing into Blue’s cockpit. “That's 2 for me today, I'm on a roll!”

 

*

 

_He misses the rain._

Lance splashes heavily in the puddles, and though the mud is not our mud, he still giddily laughs when it splatters on his shoes.

The rain is water, but the dirt isn't dirt, it's softer and hot and purple.

Lance doesn't seem to mind.

“You know I used to do this with my little siblings. They'd drag me out and make me play with them whenever it rained. Uh...it grew on me I guess. Sorry, I'm starting to ramble. Got it from my Mama.”

“I don't mind,” I assure him, leaning on Blue’s leg.

She nuzzles my head, as if supporting me.

“Thanks Keith, thanks Blue. Clementine was one of my younger sisters, and she'd always stomp in puddles near me so I'd get soaked, but I miss her anyways. I had another younger sister, Julie, but she was just a baby when we left. I have one younger brother, Danny, and he would try to fight me a lot, but I never did. I'd like to say I was scared of hurting him, but he was a wrestling champion, so it was more the other way around. And my older sister, Rosa, she'd help me with my homework and read me bedtime stories, all of the model things big sisters are meant to do. Before we left...she'd just gotten engaged to her longtime boyfriend, Jacob. I'm sad that I'm going to miss their wedding, not to mention Rosa was 2 months pregnant.”

Lance abruptly stops talking and scuffs his shoe in the purplish dirt of the foreign plant.

“I wonder what they'll name the baby.”

The rain that's soaked in his hair had previously looked beautiful, but now it only adds to the sadness in his gaze.

“They actually, hah, said they'd name him Lance, like as a joke. I wonder if they actually will, now that I'm gone.”

Unable to convey my sympathy through words, I bring Lance into a tight hug. We stand, huddled under Blue, drenched, but hugging.

“We’re too young,” he whispers. “We had so much left to explore and do, and now we’re saving the universe. _Keith.”_

His voice holds so much emotion my eyes start tearing up. He's right, goddammit. Lance never graduated from the Garrison, he never got to prove himself. I never got to find my family.

It's not fair.

“ _I never got to tell my Mama I loved her one last time.”_

With that Blue wordlessly opens her jaw and I half carry Lance into the cockpit. The rain is slowing down anyways. And now that we’re out of the rain it's all too obvious that Lance is crying.

With my arms wrapped around Lance like this, he seems small. It reminds me he’s just a teenager like me, still growing, not fully developed.

We’re still young. Still so much to lose.

_Like each other._

I feel a violent tremor wrack my body, and try to hold onto Lance tightly enough so he won't notice, but I don't think it's working.

All I can see is my hands covered in his blood as he dies in my arms. His body slamming into mine as he takes the hit for me.

Scrubbing the blood out of my clothes, off of my skin, out of my fingernails.

But it's still there, I can still see it, I can still feel his body turning cold because I couldn't go fast enough. He was in the pod for weeks.

It's a wonder he's here right now at all.

His blood is still on my hands.

“ _Keith!”_

**Keith please.**

I blink tears out of my vision, but it keeps coming.

I bring my hand up to my face, amazed to feel that I've been sobbing.

“Oh my god, you weren't responding, you were just absolutely shaking, I didn't know what to do. What's wrong?”

It's easy to get lost in the brown of his eyes, to calm down from his presence alone.

Easy to get distracted by how much I love him, but there's things that need to be said.

“Why did you sacrifice yourself?”

“Anyone would've. But what's wrong?”

“No, but why did _you?”_

“Because I actually care about you, Keith. I don't want you to die. I want to know what's wrong now.”

“I'll tell you later.”

Lance tries to get more out of me, but I can't bring myself to tell him yet. We end up tangled together in the pilot’s seat, neither of us willing to suggest going back to the castle.

_I'm falling too hard and fast for him._

 

_Oh no._

“A ground mission?” Lance shifts uneasily. “No lions? Can Shiro at least come with us?”

“No,” Allura sighs, “I told you already, his Galran arm could give him away. You two are the best options.”

I lock eyes with Lance and weakly smile.

“I don't have a good feeling about this,” he admits.

“It's nerves, don't worry.”

Except I'm worrying, I'm freaking out, my gut is doing somersaults.

I really don't feel good about this.

“I'm going to go say bye to Red,” I excuse myself.

**Keith I don't want you to go without me.**

“I've got to. Allura says so.”

**Who cares? We’ll go right now, she won't know until it's too late.**

“Red I can't.”

**I have a bad feeling about this.**

“It seems everyone does, but there's no other choice. I am a paladin of Voltron, and I will not back down.”

**Sometimes you say things like that and it reminds me of why you're my paladin. Because you're stubborn! And it's annoying, just stay here.**

“I can't let Lance do this alone.”

**Ah I see now, it's because Lance is involved.**

“Shut up.”

**If you're set on this, then be careful, please?**

_“I always am.”_


	5. The Run and Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance's POV appears!!!

Lance:

 

I kick at the bars of the prison cell miserably, glaring at the outside hallway.

“I told you so,” I murmur, but my heart isn't in it.

“Thanks,” Keith gasps from the corner of the cell block. 

I'm surprised he even understood me, considering how beat up he is. When he told me, on the way over here, how it felt to ‘have my blood on his hands’ I didn't understand.

Now. 

Now I do.

I understand all too well.

I kneel next to him, taking the blood soaked fabric off of him, ripping some clean strips off my shirt and replacing them.

“Just stay with me,” I order, brushing his hair away from his face.

“Can I take a nap?”

I search his face, but his eyes seem clearer than they were earlier, and he doesn't seem to be losing continuous blood anymore. 

“Yes, get some rest.”

I shrug off my jacket and wrap it around him. 

The moment his eyes shut I bang my head against the wall and start crying. The ache in my chest pangs and I look back over to Keith. Even watching the steady rise and fall of his chest while he sleeps doesn't calm me down.

He is going to die here, in this crummy prison, before anyone ever realizes we’re missing. Before anyone realizes we’re paladins of Voltron. Before anyone can save him.

He doesn't  _ deserve  _ that. 

I slowly make my way back over to him, minding his wounds while I lay my head on his shoulder. 

_ I love him so much it hurts.  _

The longer I sit, the farther away my cries become, and the faster my tears dry. 

The easier I fall asleep.

 

*

 

“Lance?”

I jerk awake, my eyes darting all over the dim room, before I see Keith, hand pressed to his side, pain written over his features.

I knew it.

The slashes criss cross his chest, spanning from his collarbone to his hipbone. The cuts are too deep, it won't heal by itself, and it won't...oh my god it won't stop bleeding. 

“Oh my god it won't close on its own, it needs stitches,” I sob, bringing my hands up to my hair and pulling. “I don't...I don't have the resources for that!”

A sudden banging on the other side of the wall catches my attention.

“Excuse us? We...have a needle for closing open wounds, as long as you have thread or something for the other part.”

I press my face against the bars, making eye contact with the alien in the cell next to ours. They’re holding a needle in their outstretched hand.

I reach as far as my arm will go and take the needle.

“Thank you,” I whisper to the person.

“I'm Hersh, and this is my sister, Kanji. We heard your cries last night, is the injured one your mate?”

I grip the needle tightly in my palm and slowly shake my head.

“Ah, I see. Good luck.”

I duck back inside my own cell and rush to Keith’s side again.

“Listen, I read lots of my dad’s medical books as I grew up, but...I've never done this on a real person.”

I gulp, and lean down to uncover Keith’s gaping wound. It's been a day since I saw it, and it's just as startling as it was the first time. I swallow the bile fighting it's way into my mouth and get to work.

 

*

 

I can't sleep. 

As much as I try, all I see when I close my eyes is Keith’s blood, hear his screams, his strangled whispering of my name over and over as I stitched up his wound. His fevered whispering of  _ how much it hurt.  _ The way he grabbed at my shirt and started crying when I was done.

Oh my god.

The waterworks come again, and my vision blurs while I try to keep an eye on Keith. He's sleeping peacefully now, not even needing cloth bandages to stop the bleeding. But I think he's gotten sick, the fever evident on his skin.

He’s been sleeping almost all day, and sweating like crazy, refusing food, refusing water.

I saved him from one thing, but I might lose him to another now.

I can’t do anything about it, there are just no resources here, no way to help him, to save him. He’s counting on me, but I’m useless, there’s nothing to be done. 

He’s going to die. 

We’ve been here for two days now, as I assume Allura wants to plan first. I want to curse her, but she couldn't know. Couldn't know that Keith is dying before my very eyes. 

I rest my head on my knees and keep watch over Keith.

That's all I can do, watch, wait, cry.

I'm pathetic.

 

*

 

Day 3 goes nicely actually. Hersh finds cold water and allows me to soak a cloth in it so I can wash Keith down with it.

It seems to bring down his fever for a few hours, but it comes back with a new vengeance.  

Keith sleeps the day away, and I talk to Hersh and Kanji through it. They say they might be able to find something to help, but they can't promise anything. They say not to get my hopes up. 

“Lance? Kanji says there's an herbal remedy, but it'll be getting made almost on the other side of this hallway, so you need to be very clear about your Keith’s symptoms.”

“Well he’s running a fever, quite high for our species, and he's coughing up blood now. Um he-” my voice gives out, and I rub my eyes, and clear my throat before continuing. “He’s out of it. He sleeps all day, and when he’s awake he spouts nonsense.”

“Okay, I wrote that down, I'm going to hand it to you, you have to check it over, once you're satisfied, give it back. Be careful no guards see, or it'll be taken away and there’ll be no chance to save your Keith.”

I take the list from Hersh and glance over it as quickly as I can.

Everything seems to be on it, and I give it back to him within seconds of the next rotation of guards. 

We’re safe.

“Before the guards come through, the remedy will be done within the day, just keep him alive until then and it should be alright.”

I thank Hersh and retreat back into my cell.

Two days of no sleep is starting to hit me, but I stay awake for Keith’s sake.

 

*

 

“The remedy Lance! The guards are coming through in another minute, be quick! Have your Keith eat it.”

I take the thick paste from Hersh and carefully prop Keith up, prying open his mouth and shoving the concoction in.

He startles awake and I stare him down, “Swallow it.”

He makes a face, but gulps it down. He starts coughing immediately, drinking water faster than I've seen him since we got here.

“It tasted rancid Lance,” he slurs, but it's the clearest thing he's said since his fever started.

“Just go back to sleep,” I prompt, curling up beside him and closing my eyes.

 

*

 

Day 4 is hell. 

I'm taken from my cell, seeing as Keith is too weak to move, and forced into the arena. 

I think I'll die, am resigned to the fact, until I realize no one will be left to look after Keith. 

With that, rage fills my being and I charge.

 

*

 

“The champion, everyone!”

The guard laughs as they shove me back into my cell.

Keith is awake, blood covering his mouth, eyes glazed over as they look at me.

I dip into our bucket of water and clean his mouth off, but the hacking cough just takes over again and he's blood soaked again.

I'll just try to fight the fever then.

But.

But his fever is gone.

“Hersh!” I call, trying to shove my head in between the bars to peek into his cell.

Kanji pops her head out, but she's...she's crying. 

“I am sorry, he went to the arena today, he didn't come back, they never do. My brother is dead Lance.”

_ Hersh is dead? My friend...dead? _

I shakily reach out my hand and Kanji takes it, her scales rough, but warm and comforting against my skin.

“I'm going to get you out Kanji,” I promise through my tears. “My family will come for me, and I will get you out.”

I turn to the rest of the prison cells and raise my voice, “I'll get all of you out of this hell!”

There's a hushed cheer, and Kanji smiles at me.

“Thank you Lance.”

But I don’t feel like much of a hero, much of a champion. 

The creature was obviously being controlled by the Galra, forced to fight, just like me. Another prisoner. 

And I killed it, in cold blood, fighting for the cause. 

‘The greater good’.

I fought as if my life mattered more that that poor animal. As if I was worth more than they were. And now it’s gone, dead.

What if it had family? Someone to take care of, just like I do? 

I don’t feel like a champion at all. 

 

*

 

Day 5 is heaven. 

I wake up to the absence of Keith’s cough. 

I wake Kanji up to tell her and she sends my thanks to the other side of the prison, to a wonderful old woman named Juju who made the herbal remedy for me. Not even an hour later, all the cells suddenly open and Shiro comes running down the hallway.

“Lance! Keith!” he calls as he peeks inside every cell.

“Shiro!” I cry, stumbling out of my cell and nearly knocking him over in my haste to get a hug. “Come on, go get Keith to the castle, I'm going to get the prisoners out.”

“Lance, we don't have t-”

“We’ll make time. Kanji!”

She slowly makes her way out of her cell, and it's the first time I've actually seen her.

She has dark green scales that cover her body, and wings sprouted from her back that are kept chained up.

I pull myself away from Shiro and hug her.

“I'm so sorry about Hersh. I miss him too.”

She pats my hair and goes to my cell.

“Ah. It's Lance’s Keith. He’s asleep, who’ll carry him?”

“Shiro. This man! He came to save me, us.”

Shiro ducks inside, past Kanji, and comes out with Keith. 

“Let's go get the others Lance!” Kanji whisper screams and takes off down the hallway.

I check to make sure Shiro has Keith and go after her.

“Juju! This is Lance!”

An old woman, covered in gray fur hobbles over to me and bonks me on the head.

“You had the entire prison block worried for your Keith, he's okay isn't he?”

“He’ll be okay now, thank you so much. Without you I don't think he would've made it.”

“Bah! Don't thank me, thank Kanji. It was her idea.”

“I thanked Kanji already, but it was your skills th-”

“Ah wonderful! If you wanna thank me, help my great-granddaughter Kart, would you?”

A ball of multicolored fluff slams into me and scampers up to my shoulders.

“Hey, Lance? I'm Kerri, this is my wife Yanto. I speak on behalf of the whole block when I say...thank you!” 

Kerri bows deeply, but I hurriedly stand him back up.

“There's no need, it's my pleasure to see people freed. No one here deserves to be imprisoned. Freedom! For Hersh!”

An uproar of approval sounds through the hallway. Pupicha leans on my leg and smiles.

“Thank you Lance.”

 

*

 

I finally snap the bounds off Kanji’s wings and she flaps them excitedly, her body lifting slightly off the ground. She chirps excitedly and her scales shimmer in the low lighting of the castle.

“Lance! I want to meet your Keith!”

“Well he's not conscious right now, but come on.”

I lead Kanji down the hallways, now full of chattering people of different species. I pass Juju, who gives me a warm smile and pats my head. 

I bring Kanji to the pods, and point at the one Keith resides in.

“Oh. When will he come out? I have never heard your Keith speak. Can he speak?”

“Yes, he usually never shuts up, and he’ll make it known when he gets out, don't worry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up:  
> How Keith got hurt in the first place   
> Hint: It's really fucking angsty


	6. Carry On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is angsty. thats it  
> thats the whole chapter  
> heck  
> thats the whole fic

 

Keith:

 

When I stumble out of the pod, it's into Lance’s arms. 

He beams at me, wrapping his arms around me, before heaving me up and spinning me around once. 

I huff in a harsh breath and bury my face in his neck, my heart aching. 

“You scared me back there, asshole.”

“Lance! Your Keith is awake!”

Suddenly there's a pair of green wings enveloping Lance and I.

“Kanji! Don't overwhelm him.”

“Everyone! Lance’s Keith is awake!”

“Oh no. I'm sorry Keith,” Lance giggles.

Suddenly there's dozens of other species surrounding us, hopping around to get a look at me.

A small one, jumps around Lance’s legs until he picks them up.

“Lance! Lance is this Keith?”

“Why yes Pupicha, this is the mighty Keith! Defender of me, and the universe-”

“Paladin of the Red lion, and the best damn pilot you've ever met!” Pupicha cuts him off. 

“Move!”

Pidge barrels into me next, knocking the air out of me and pressing their hands all over my face, with the excuse that they're checking that I defrosted all the way.

Hunk gives me a bear hug, and Shiro says he's glad to have me back. Allura kisses my cheek, as does Coran. 

But all these people, calling my name, shaking my hand, the younger ones cling to my legs in abject admiration.

“How do they know me?” I finally ask Lance.

“I told them. These are the people that were in the prison hallway with us, though...you wouldn't remember. This is Kanji, her and her brother helped us a lot when we were trapped. Her brother...sadly he-he didn't make it. But she did. This is Pupicha, she was alone in the cell opposite ours, I told her stories about you every night. She fell asleep to them. Here is Juju, she gave us a remedy to help when you got really sick. Here is Vitya, he’s the last of his species. Kerri is Juju’s grandson, and Kart is his daughter. His wife should-ah there she is! This is Yanto. They're all my friends. I got very acquainted with them while I was taking care of you.”

I struggle to retain the explosion of information, but Lance shrugs me off when I go to ask for the names again.

“They’ll introduce themselves. But first, I'd like to proudly present, a new race. The Hersh!”

Loud whoops come from the small group of people. Of Hershes.

Kanji steps forward and bows, “We’d like to thank Lance, and his Keith of course, for liberating us.”

I shake my head, “I don't deserve the praise, the credit, Lance did it all.”

“Do not be humble. Lance talked about you every night, he told me you were his inspiration to beat the former Champion.”

Finally everything catches up to me and I blush, not lightly no, my entire face heats up and I'm sure everyone notices. 

“I have wanted to meet you for long time Keith!” Kanji bubbles, her wings fluttering behind her. “You were a-sleep for most time you were in prison. Lance took care of you, but I did not see you until recent, until now actually! You are very...Lance what is the word you use? He calls you beautiful, yes. I agree!”

“Kanji! That was secret! You weren't supposed to tell him,” Lance groans. 

“Sorry! Hooman customs strange.”

“Human, Kanji.”

“Homan.”

“ _ Human.” _

“Human.”

“You got it.”

“Keef! Up!”

I look down to the big eyes of Pupicha, her arms stretched upwards. 

“My little Pupicha is a traitor,” Lance complains, leaning heavily on Kanji as she wraps her wing around him. “They grow up so fast.”

I pick her up, balancing her easily on my hip. She's quite light, and soft. 

“It's Keith Pupicha.”

“Keef!”

“Kei-”

“Keef!”

“Alright, nevermind.”

“Keef, tell me how you rescued Lance, he's told me the story so many times, but I never hear it from Keef!”

“Oh...alright.”

Suddenly the chatter dies down and I have the Hershes all gathered around me, dead silent, looking up at me expectantly.

“Alright. Well, it all started when Allura told us we’d be going on a ground mission.”

 

_ The Galra soldiers surround us, hissing about rebels and taunting us about a public execution. They must've noticed every time they pushed Lance forward just a little too hard, pointed their blasters near him...that I’d flinch. Seize up, watch in horror. _

_ So suddenly they lowered him to his knees and one pointed their gun at his head.  _

_ “This is for the pain of the tiny one. Punishment for killing so many of us.” _

_ My heart jumps up in my throat as the soldier tightens their grip and twitches their finger over the trigger.  _

_ “No!” I sob, throwing myself in front of the blast.  _

_ It knicks my shoulder and I go down screaming. I'm pretty sure it took off a chunk of me, and there's blood everywhere.  _

_ “Please stop! Just kill me instead!” Lance shrieks, but when he reaches for me, the other soldier holds him back. _

_ “Don't you dare touch him,” I spit out the blood in my mouth on one of the soldier’s shoes.  _

_ A swift kick to my stomach has me winded, but still laughing in the face of my own pain. It's easy to take when I know it's for Lance. _

_ Then the tip of a sword is pressed against my chest.  _

_ “Keith!” Lance sobs, fighting in vain against the grip on him. “Please don’t hurt him! Kill me!” _

_ “One more word I swear to god you filthy creature.” _

_ “Screw you.” _

_ Suddenly my entire front is on fire and there's so much blood, a giant slash adorns the front of my chest, a giant Z. _

_ Distantly, I can hear Lance crying, struggling, trying to get to me, cursing me out. I can’t feel bad, knowing he’ll at least be okay.  _

_ “For Zarkon!” _

 

“You-you survived that!” Allura gasps, tugging my shirt up, as if checking to see the wound isn't still there.

It isn't, but there is a giant scar stretching across my chest, a Z. Lance makes a face and turns away, pulling Pupicha into his lap. 

“We’re going to sleep.”

“Lance! I wanna stay with Keef.”

“It's time for bed Pupicha.”

“Fine.”

I watch them go, almost fondly.

_ I'll talk to him tomorrow. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will probably be out...by Wednesday.   
> No promises tho


	7. Little Talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ;)  
> Red is the ultimate wingman(Winglion?)

_ He’ll never love me. _

_ Why would I ever think he would? _

_ I am nothing, and he is everything _

**Keith…are you alright?**

_ I’m a fool when it comes to him.  _

_ I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t. _

**Go talk to him, now.**

_ Red I- _

**Please, you need it.**

“Keith you've been in here a while, you good?”

“Keef! Lance is worried, but I know you're just talking to your lion, cuz you missed her.”

Pupicha climbs into my lap and pats Red’s leg.

**Who is this small thing?**

“This is Pupicha Red, we liberated her and her friends from the prison Lance and I were in.”

**I shall entertain her, you go speak to Lance.**

“Red I need more time.”

**Now.**

“But Red-”

**I will give you by the end of the day. But really, you must speak to him.**

 

*****

 

“Lance can I talk to you?”

“Um! Yeah.”

“I just wanna say. Thanks by the way, for taking care of me. I'm so...sorry that I'm about to ruin everything.”

Lance laughs without humor and looks around, “You're joking right? You couldn't ruin anything.”

“I'm sorry that you almost died because of me. If I could've just kept a straight face, we would've both gotten out fine. Most importantly, you wouldn't have had to be alone. It was hard to stay quiet though, when they were roughing you up, because I love you.”

The words are easy to get out, but the backlash hits me hard and I can feel my throat closing and my eyes watering.

“You're...serious? Keith, you absolute idiot, I’ve loved you since before we even came here. I fell in love with the back of your head and your witty remarks. And now you sit here and tell me...we could've...could've had  _ more.  _ And you never  _ fucking told me?” _

“You didn't tell me either,” I defend, quick to argue.

My mind stutters, and backtracks.

_ Wait. _

“Do you-would you-agh.”

I go to run my fingers through my hair but Lance catches my hand and interlaces our fingers. He leans forward and rubs our noses together in a brief Eskimo kiss.

“Yes. I just want to know something. Will you give me some of your time?”

I flush and squeeze his hand, “I'll gladly give you all of it.”

“We’ll be careful? Take it slow? I don't really know what I'm doing, to be completely honest with you.”

“Of course, it's not like I've ever done this before either.”

**Fuck in the cockpit, fuck in the cockpit, fuck in the cockpit.**

“Red!” I shout, pulling my hand out of Lance’s to cover my face. 

Lance uncovers my face and lightly kisses my cheek.

I blush even harder and sink to the ground, resigning myself to a peaceful death down here.

**Fuck. In. The. Cockpit.**

**Right now, come on.**

“Red! Please, now is not the time!”

**So maybe later?**

“If I say yes, will you stop?”

**Yes. Promise.**

“I can't promise! It's not just me!”

**Good enough.**

Lance plops down next to me, Pupicha cradled in his arms.

“So, what'd she say?”

“I…” I glance down at the small, innocent girl. “I can't tell you.”

_ I wouldn't tell you anyways. _

Lance, thank god, blushes and looks away. 

“So. When we go back to Earth. I want to take you back to the Garrison and show you off, like, everyone lusted over you, and now I, ‘cargo pilot’, have you. Also I...want to show you, where I fell in love with you.”

The last part is mumbled, but I still hear it, and definitely still get flustered by it.

“It's just. I had been watching you for so long, in what I thought was a stupid crush way. And then you tied your hair back, absolutely killed the flight simulation, and came out. You got all flustered by the attention and ran off and I just. Was gone. Oh my god I'm sorry, that was the worst. I'm the worst I’m so cheesy, just back out now while you still have the chance.”

Pupicha is asleep against Lance’s chest and even as he grimaces and sheepishly smiles at me, he clutches her tightly to his chest and pets through the tuft of hair atop her head.

“I love you.”

“Keith you can't just say things like that,” he groans, but his eyes light up and it's the most satisfying thing I've ever seen in my life.

“Boys! Oops. Sorry. I didn't know Pupicha was in here. We’re going to have a party,” Pidge busts in, sprawling on the ground with us. “I told Kanji about Earth balls and she, as future Queen of the Hersh, has asked us to throw her one. Better dig out the formal wear, dress to impress. It'll be tonight. I programmed Gizmo with some nice music, don't worry. Allura says we don't have to dress like color coordinated with our lions, but I think she wants us to. Whatever, I’m going to wear a neon green suit so whatever you wear won't be as eye catching as me.”

“Is that a challenge?” I raise my eyebrows at them and they start laughing.

“If you want it to be.”

Lance leans on my shoulder, and shifts Pupicha so she's in my lap.

“I'm going to go check on Blue. I haven't gotten to talk to her much since we got back. Don't kill each other while I'm gone.” Lance shoots an exaggerated wink at me and just like that he's gone.

_ I guess he does love me. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ????  
>  Next chapter maybe Saturday?  
> Sunday????  
> I am but a sleep deprived writer, I cannot promise anything.


	8. Stone Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tbh this was really fun to write. Probably my favorite chapter. After all I am the angst champion ;0

My closet at the castle has actually millions and billions of fashion choices, for boys, girls, and everything in between. 

Anything from elegant to ratty, and it's all at my disposal. 

“Alright Keith, the rest of your paladins are wearing their lion’s colors, so I suggest you go with something red. Which will look fantastic on you anyhow. Something that you never seem to dress according to, is how feminine your body is, and how great your hair can be styled. I'm going to curl it. Just at the ends, don't worry. Believe me, it'll frame your face nicely. You can pick your outfit, but I would suggest something form fitting.”

I flick through my closet, but nothing really catches my eye, just lots of junk from different cultures that I wouldn't even know how to put on. 

Allura is patiently curling my hair while I look, her fingers steady and slow as she twirls strands of my hair around what seems to be a last minute hot rod she found. But it's just comfortably warm, I warned her my hair might burn off if it was too hot.

It goes by so fast I almost don't notice it, but I wave Allura’s hands away from me and grab the dress from the closet. It's beautiful, sleeveless, held up by the tightness in the neck. It swoops to one side a little below the hip with ruffles to cover the upper thighs, but still expose the left leg. 

And it's a deep, rich red color.

“This one for sure, do you happen to have any heels lying around?”

 

-

 

The only downside to the dress is that part of my scar shows, around my shoulder you can see the beginning of it before it disappears under the fabric. I don't mind, scars make me feel powerful, knowing that I survived something strong enough to mark my skin.

So the fact that the dress shows off my scar just makes my entrance more confident. Allura and I walk in together, as she insisted we needed to be dramatic since we would be the most stunning ones there.

“Ah Princess there you are! And...Keith? Why you look wonderful!’ Coran beams and pats my back. “Anywho, Princess, Queen Kanji wants to talk to you before the party kicks up.”

Allura links arms with me and nods at Coran, “I’m going to take the first dance with Keith, but then I will be happy to talk to the new Queen. Oh! I apologize Keith, you do not mind, do you?”

“Of course not, but may I pick the music?”

“Sure, Pidge is over there, they can probably get it up for you. Don’t leave me to dance with someone else!”

I laugh as I pull away from Allura and shake my head, “I would never.”

Before I can make my way over to Pidge, they’re jumping into my arms, decked out in their promised neon green suit. 

“Lance is going to have a heart attack,” they giggle, before leading me to the outskirts of the crowds, angled more towards the hangar. “Alright, hit me with it. What’s the weird shit that Keith listens to?”

“Um, well there’s this song I want to dance to Allura with, and then one I just want in the playlist once, just because I haven’t heard it in a while…”   
“Here, just type them in...Oh! Nice. Hurry, Allura is waiting for you.”

I take my position, in the middle of the dance floor, and curtsy to Allura, before taking her hand in mine.

“Can you lead? I’m not very good at it,” I admit, smiling a little shyly. 

She nods enthusiastically and we lightly spin together. 

“Earth music really is not so bad,” Allura shrugs and leads me into a brutal step sequence.

I keep up, albeit a little awkwardly. She gives a pause in the dance, setting a hand on my waist and dipping me shallowly. 

“Shiro taught me that,” she laughs, before bringing me back up. 

The beat picks up and once again, I’m barely matching her step for step, but it is fun. Our dresses swoosh together and our heels clack in sync. All eyes are on us and I feel untouchable. The last stretch of the song has Allura slowing our movements into a final spin and dip. 

The song fades out and Allura helps me back into a standing position so we can both face the applause and cheers. 

“Keith, I did not know you could dance so well, you could even keep up with me. That’s the most fun I’ve had since I got out of the pod!”

I chuckle a little breathlessly and make eye contact with a stunned Lance. He runs a hand through his already messed up hair and starts walking up to me. 

The first thing he does is snort, before kissing the beginning of my scar and bringing me off the dance floor.

“You know I brought you a flower. It’s a Dahlia, like the one I gave you a while ago, and I was going to like, pin it to your suit, but this is better.” Lance tucks the flower into my hair and digs through his pocket, finally procuring a butterfly clip that he clips the Dahlia into my hair with.

“Thanks.”

“You look...wow. Wow! I thought I was going to actually faint when I saw you start dancing with Allura. This,” Lance pauses and gestures weakly at me, “is not good for my health.”

“The dress?”

“No, well yes, but you in general.”

Lance takes my hand and squeezes, “Besides the point, Shiro was looking for you earlier.”

Speaking of, Shiro rushes over to us and leans in close, whispering, “There is a major problem, you have to come with me.”

“Shit,” I curse, slipping my hand out of Lance’s. “What is it?”

“I don’t know! Red is flipping out, but I have no idea why, that’s why I need you.”

Lance looks at me questioningly, but I shake my head and rush off after Shiro. 

**Keith! Hurry up!**

“You weren’t kidding,” I huff, following Shiro into the hangar. “She’s quite demanding. Is your lion not saying anything.”

“Vadar and I are currently not speaking. It’s a long story.”

**Keith seriously!**

Shiro and I finally make it to Red’s hangar, and her jaw is already wide open for me. 

“What’s going on?” I demand, climbing into the cockpit with Shiro.    
**No, leave the Black Paladin out of this.**

“Big Red…”

**Do not take that tone with me before you fully understand things. He must leave.**

“Shiro you have to go, I’m sorry. She won’t tell me unless you leave.”

Shiro looks torn for a few moments, but eventually leaves without a word in protest. 

**Keith, when you asked me to do the DNA scan…**

_ Oh no.  _

**I am sorry, I can keep it from you if you so wish. It might be better that way, although ignorance is not always bliss, especially if the others figure out before you do.**

I shift in my chair and sink into the purr of Red’s engine. 

“Tell me.”

**You are mostly human, I believe the host that birthed you was human. Your ‘mother’, as you’d refer to her.**

“I sense a but.”

**You were correct, when you said you thought maybe you weren’t fully human. Your healing properties, and perhaps slight super strength comes from your...other parent. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, many paladins have been cross breeds, a lot of them have been mine. But...Keith. Your other parentage is Galra. You are half Galra, Keith.**

I lean back in my chair as the information processes. 

“Will you reject me as your paladin now?” I choke, curling up in the pilot’s chair, reveling in what could be my last moments as the red paladin. 

**Oh Keith, of course not. You are still my paladin, as you always have been, and always will be. I just worry about your fellow paladins. I do not know how they will react, and I worry, for I fear if they try to kick you out of team Voltron, their lions** **_will_ ** **reject them.**

“But...they wouldn't think of me different because of this, would they? I just got comfortable in this family.”

**You do not have to tell them quite yet. Go back to the party, have fun for one more night before you deal with this mess.**

“Thanks Red.”

**Have a good night, my paladin. I love you.**

“Good night, my lion. I love you too.” I lean my forehead on the control panel and Red hums under me.

**Now go.**

“Alright.”

**Wait. Can I say, I think out of all of the paladins I've had, you are the sweetest. The most fit to pilot me, and my favorite.**

I start to tear up, but hastily wipe the tears away before they fall, “I love you so much.”

**Now shoo, before I eject you.**

“Thank you, Red, really.”

I give one final loving pat to the interior of her, before exiting my lion.

Shiro is waiting for me, concern written over his features.

“You've been crying,” he grimaces, pulling me into a tight hug. “What happened?”

“It isn’t pressing. We can talk about it later, now, we have a party to get back to.”

Shiro offers his arm and we walk back in together.

Pidge slaps my back on the way in with a shout of, “Perfect timing!”

The first beats of the song come on and I trail away from Shiro to scan the crowd for my splotch of blue. 

He finds me first though.

“What was that about?”

“Tell you later, dance with me.”

Lance pauses and takes a moment to listen to the music playing.

“What is this?”

“It's not in English, but it translates to Stay Close to Me and never leave. Let's dance, come on!”

I grab Lance’s hand and drag him back onto the dance floor, immediately pulling him close to me in a waltz. He stumbles, his feet struggling to keep up with my own. 

“Ooh, Lance can’t dance,” I tease, letting go of his hand momentarily to push my dress back. 

“You don’t need to insult me and rhyme it. And seduce me. All at once too, I can feel you taking years off my life.”

“It was in my way,” I argue, ducking into the spin that Lance leads me into.

“It was  _ not.  _ You’re just making fun of me.”

Lance huffs dramatically and dips me, fake dropping me, before spinning me back into his arms. 

“How is adjusting my dress making fun of you?”   
“I don’t know, but it is!”

My retort dies and makes way for giggles to rise in my throat. 

_ I’ve never felt like this, holy shit.  _

With the lull in our movements, we move out of sync with the music, but I like it. Lance makes up his own moves, pulling me into an exaggerated tango-salsa combination. 

Our ending position sees me lightly arching backwards, my cheeks pressed against Lance’s, his breathing heavy in my ear, and his hand steady on my back. 

“I’ve never felt more alive,” he breathes, sliding his hand up to my hair. “My nerves are shot already. Can I kiss you?”

“Oh, uh-”

“Please?” Lance interrupts, fingers tightening in my hair.

An exhale of shaky breath tickles my neck and I pull my face away from Lance’s, drowning my doubts in his eyes.

“Yes.”

His lips are softer than I thought they’d be. 

My head spins and I pull him back in when he goes to move away. He tastes kind of like that Altean juice I love, and it makes me feel drunk. His mouth slots perfectly with mine and the giddiness is starting to make me dizzy. 

I sigh against Lance’s lips and he actually pulls away this time. 

“Why are you perfect?” he groans, dropping his head against my chest. 

“Keith! Your Lance looks like he’s going to cry!” Kanji squeals, her wings fluttering gently as she leans her head over my shoulder. “What’d you do?”

“Oh, Queen Kanji,” I fake gasp, shoving Lance off me enough to bow deeply. “I didn’t see you there, my lady. It’s a pleasure to see you!”

Kanji sharply inhales and fans her eyes, a dark purple blush overtaking her green skin. 

“Keith! Lord, human customs are strange, I know I’m the queen and all, but really, we’re friends there is no need-”   
“My, the Queen considers me a friend, how flattering. Honestly, what an honor, my lovely Queen.” I take Kanji’s hand and kiss her knuckles. 

“Oh my!”

“Wow, Keith. That’s probably enough, Kanji is going to explode if you keep talking,” Lance insists, winding an arm around my waist.

“Lance, please tell your Keith that just because I’m queen now doesn’t mean he has to treat me as royalty.”

“Oh whatever do you mean, Queen Kanji?” Lance teases, before shaking his head. “He’s kidding, Kanj, we both are. It’s a human thing.”

“Oh, I understand! Haha, my saviours, the mighty paladins Lance and Keith,” Kanji says, puffing her chest up and gesturing wildly at us. “I did it right, no?”

“Sure ya did, Kanj,” Lance assures her, grinning lazily. “Keith and I are going to go talk in private real quick, if you don’t mind?”   
“Ah, yes yes, I will go chat with the Princess. She is very pretty you know! I do not mind speaking with her.”

Lance hugs Kanji tightly and offers one last, “Be careful.”

“Keith-”

“No.”

“Hey, seriously. Shiro looked really freaked out, what's going on?”

“It's not a deadly situation, it's not something that's important right now. It can wait.”

Lance grimaces and rubs the back of his neck, “It's just that. It's obviously bothering you?”

“I know, but it can wait until after the party.”

“I mean. God. As your...as your boyfriend I want to know, Keith. I need to know what's wrong. Can you just, just tell me?”

My eyes start to burn and the emotional baggage I've been hanging onto all night finally comes out in a choked sob as I start crying. 

“No, no! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, you don't have to tell me, I didn't mean to pressure you. Oh baby, shh, come here, please don't cry,” Lance rushes, pulling me into his arms.

I hold onto his suit jacket, relaxing slightly into the warmth of his chest.

**Keith, you are distressed. Would you like to come take a break? The cockpit is always open.**

“Lance? I'm going to go hang out in Red for a little bit.”

“Yeah. I'm sorry, so sorry, I didn't mean…”

“I know, are you coming with me or would you rather stay here?”

Lance wordlessly starts walking with me to the hangar.

“Red, I brought Lance.”

**You haven't brought him in here since he got stuck to that tree!**

“Yeah, I just need a break from the party, can I-can we come in?”   
Red wordlessly open her jaw and I curl up in my chair for the second time that night. The engine purrs and Red prods at my mind. 

**Have you told him?** **  
** “No. I just didn’t want to come alone.”

**Remember, you are still my paladin. Do not stress about that at least. The other lions too, they know, they still want to fight alongside us.**

Lance settles on the ground next to my chair, setting a hand on Red’s controls, “Hope you don’t mind I tagged along. You really are a pretty one, aren’t you?”

**Oh, he complimented me.**

“Aw, Keith! She’s purring.”

**I am not!**

_ She is.  _

I run my fingers over Red’s control panel and inspect the room around me. 

“You need a new paint job. I can do it tomorrow, huh? I can redo the outside too, we’ll just have a day to ourselves. I miss ya, big girl.”

**Yes, Keith. I miss you too, I think we should do that. I also think you should go back to the party. I can hear your Pidgeon coming down the hallway as we speak.**

“Oh, why?”   
**I don’t know, but they’ll be here soon. Shoo, or I’ll kick you out.**

“You’d never,” I dismiss, leaning down and kissing the control panel. “Goodbye for real now, my lion.”

I turn to help Lance up, but he’s already standing, although leaning heavily on my chair, his hands over his mouth and his eyes looking suspiciously blurry. I must trigger something, because then his eyes get even slightly watery, tears threatening to fall. 

“Hey, woah. Why’re you the one crying here?”

He clears his throat and wipes at his eyes hastily, “I wanted to know what was going on, because I figured you’d otherwise be dealing with this on your own. I know now, that you have Red, you’ve always had her, I just didn’t realize you two were so close. I don’t mind now, you never have to tell me what happened, if you don’t want to.”

**I like this boy.**

“Can it, Red. I will tell you, of course I will, I was always going to. I just didn’t want to talk about it tonight.”

Lance sniffles and pulls me into one of the tightest hugs I’ve ever been subjected to. His embrace makes me feel safer, and even a little loved. 

“Hey gaylords!”

Lance tries to pull away, but I just tighten my grip, and he hugs me harder. 

“Alright, I guess I shouldn’t interrupt whatever is going on here...Sike!”   
Pidge throws themself at us, and wedges in between Lance and I, aggressively hugging my waist. 

“You’re both stupid, we gotta go. Gizmo  _ will  _ start the music without us, she’s an asshole, ya know?”   
I let go of them and Lance takes off, with a shouted, “Race you both!”

I debate how badly my feet will hurt if I run in heels, decide I don’t care, and sprint after him. Pidge at the very least, is beating Lance, so at least even if I lose, I can take Lance down with me.  They do end up beating me, but when Lance argues with me about whether or not heels are a legitimate excuse for losing, the soft music playing fades out, and in comes a familiar voice.

Pidge starts singing immediately and I join them, draping my arm over their shoulder and swaying gently with them. Lance sidles up next to me and sings lightly to me, eyes lighting up as Hunk comes rushing over, joining our growing group of losers. 

Young Volcanoes, huh Pidge?

Shiro’s hand appears on my back, his familiar, soothing, baritone voice filling my ears. 

I sing louder, and in turn everyone matches me, and then there we are. In a tightly knit circle, singing together, dancing together, being together. 

_ They love you.  _

For the millionth time that night, I start crying, just a little at first, but as the song progresses, it becomes noticeable. The sobs creep into my voice and Hunk notices first, and as he watches me, tears fill up his own eyes. 

“Hunk? Buddy-” 

Hunk points to me and then everyone is very aware of the fact that I’m full on sobbing now. With that, comes Lance’s tears, and Allura and Coran joining us, mostly to figure out why more than half of their paladins are crying, but Lance pulls them into the dance circle. 

“Why-Oh Pidge don’t cry!” Allura exclaims, looking alarmed. 

“Peer pressure,” they cry, leaning heavily on me. 

“Keith started it,” Hunk sniffles, trying in vain to wipe away his tears.

“Keith that’s not fair!” Coran wails, as he starts crying too.

“Keith why are you crying?” Allura asks, patiently, even with a smile. 

“We’re just all together, and we’re acting like-like a  _ family.  _ We’re not just a team, we’re a family and I just-” I cut myself off, unable to finish my sentence as I devolve into hiccuping sobs again. 

Shiro sets a comforting hand on my shoulder and I manage to blubber out, “I’ve just never had a family before.”

“Oh,” Shiro whispers, and I’m startled to feel a tear fall on my shoulder. 

He’s crying too. 

“Q-quiznak,” Allura curses, laughing while she tries to inconspicuously wipe away her tears before we can see. 

The last note of the song sounds and then all is silent, besides our sobs.

“Oh my! Are you all alright? You’re all...crying?”

Lance chuckles and smiles at Kanji as she moves into our circle, “Keith here, managed to make a mess out of all of us.”

“Well, oh, I don’t know what to do! Here,” Kanji huffs, draping her wings around us, well most of us, her wingspan isn’t quite large enough, but the effort is there. 

“Thanks Kanji,” I sniff, leaning into Lance. “I appreciate it.”

“You are welcome!” she chirps, moving closer to me. “Anything for Lance’s Keith. While you all...did whatever you were doing, I helped most of my people get into bed. Pupicha wanted to wait to say goodnight though, she’s still awake in your room, Lance.”

**Keith.**

“So that’s the end?”

I curse my voice for shaking.

“Yeah, I’m heading to bed,” Hunk yawns, stretching out his arms. 

**Keith…**

“No, wait. I have something I need to tell everyone.”

_ I feel like I’m going to throw up. _

**Shh, I’ve got you Keith. If they react negatively, you can come sleep in me tonight.**

Shiro and Lance’s expressions go sour, but everyone else just looks confused. 

_ I can’t do this. _

**You can.**

“Shall I take my leave? Is this personal?”   
“No, Kanji, you deserve to hear this as well. Just, give me a moment to compose myself.”

_ I can’t breathe. _

**Keith, calm down. Just tell them.**

_ How can I calm down? I’m not even Keith anymore.  _

**Of course you are Keith, just not the same Keith.**

“You know, you don’t have to tell us,” Lance murmurs, obviously sensing my distress in the prolonged silence. 

**You can do it, Keith.**

“I’m not human.”

_ I feel like there’s a boulder on my chest, I’m being crushed, I’m going to die.  _

**I believe in you, my paladin.**

“Many paladins of Voltron haven’t been human, there is no-”

“You don’t understand,” I cut Allura off, feeling like my heart is going to jump out of my chest. 

Still not having recovered from before, my tears start falling faster. 

“I’m some, ah, half breed. My mother was human, but my father was...Oh god, I can’t do this.”

**You’ve got this, just one more word and it’s over.**

_ But it’s the hardest word to say.  _

“Keith there are millions of half breeds, you are not dirty or anything for being one.” Allura smiles patiently at me.

_ But I am dirty, filthy, disgusting- _

**You are my paladin, no matter what.**

“My father, he was-” I clear my throat, and try to fight past the feeling of drowning. “Galra. He was a Galra, I’m Galra, I’m half Galra. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I don’t know what to do I-”

“Leave.”

“Allura, please I can’t-”

“I don’t want to see you right now.”

_ I’m drowning. _

“I’m sorry,” I sob, and I am.

I want to be human, I’d do anything to be human. 

I wish I could claw at my skin hard enough to rip it off. 

“This is a little rash,” Lance mumbles, but even he is looking at me like he doesn’t know me anymore. 

“I don’t want to have to look at him right now, and it seems Shiro agrees with me, even if he won’t say it.”

It’s true, Shiro is shaking, rubbing his metal arm and refusing to make eye contact with me. 

Kanji, too, seems confused as she looks at me, betrayal in her eyes, “How can a Galra look so nice?”

“I am nice,” I insist, even though I don’t believe a word coming out of my mouth. 

“But you’re a Galra, the species that destroyed my home, my family, my people’s families and homes. You can’t be nice.”

“I’m sorry,” I repeat, for the millionth time probably. 

I sound like a broken record, it’s pathetic. 

I’m pathetic. 

Hunk just walks away, and I can tell that even though he doesn’t want to hurt my feelings, he doesn’t trust me. 

Just like that, all of my friends, my  _ family  _ have turned their backs on me, and I’m alone again. 

Except…

“Keith, I don’t...I still trust you, you’re still my friend. Just because you happen to be, to be Galra, doesn’t mean you aren’t Keith anymore. The others are just surprised, they’ll get over it.  _ I’m sorry.  _ You keep apologizing like it’s your fault, but it really isn’t, and I’m sorry the others reacted like that, but I’m still here for you. Till the end. We are teammates, friends, and most importantly, you are my family. And I’ll make sure the others know exactly where I stand, if you go, I do too. I’ll be right back.”

With that, Pidge turns, walking away, as if their words didn’t just ease the ache in my chest. 

_ I am not alone. _

**You never were. Come Keith, the cockpit is open, there’s some clothes in here, and I’m sure you can find some blankets and such, I believe you’re small friend will want to sleep here too.**

“I’m going to wait for them,” I whisper, still kind of numb from what happened. 

**The other lions are very frustrated with their paladins. Except for ‘Gizmo’, as your friend calls her. She’s very smug actually. All the other lions aren’t speaking to their paladins though. If the castle is attacked, I don’t know if they’ll even let their paladins pilot them.**

“I don’t want to be the reason the universe ends, if push comes to shove, you should find a new paladin, one that isn’t half Galra. What was it that Allura said? I shouldn’t have to be looked at.”   
**Did what your tiny friend say not get through your thick skull? You really are my paladin...You are as important to the team as anyone else. If you were replaced I probably wouldn’t be able to let them pilot me, and even if I could, I certainly wouldn’t be able to form Voltron with them.**

“I should’ve died back in the Galra prison.”

“Holy shit Keith, please don’t think like that!” Pidge rushes over to me and starts pulling me towards the hangar. “You don’t deserve to die, and just because everyone is a little tense right now, doesn’t mean you’d be better off dead. Lance said it best, he loves you, he just needs time to process this information.”

“You talked to Lance?”   
“I talked to everyone. I think Hunk and Lance are just confused, they might even be okay within the week. Give them some time.” 

Pidge wraps an arm around my waist and smiles sadly, “For now, though, I’m here. Gizmo too, and I’m sure Red still loves you.”   
**They are right, I do love you.**

“She’s the one who told me I was Galra.”

“She did the right thing.”   
“I know.”

Red’s mouth is wide open when we get there, and I break away from Pidge to sprint the distance to her. 

**Oh my paladin, I am so sorry for how the others reacted.**

“It’s not your fault, my lion,” I whisper into the cockpit and dive farther in, searching for blankets. 

“You must spend a lot of time in here,” Pidge comments, kicking an empty paper cup to the side. 

“Yeah,” I admit, ripping a ‘family photo’ off the wall as I pass. 

I don’t have to heart to throw it away, but I do turn it over, to save myself the pain. 

“I remember you told me once, that everyone in the universe has a family. But not everyone in the universe wants their family, so you need to know that you don’t need to acknowledge this part of yourself if you don’t want to. You have me, and maybe we’d both benefit from learning that that’s enough, yeah? Because I know family defines me, I have accepted that fact a long time ago, but you shouldn’t let family define you. You’re more than that.”

“Thank you so much, Pidge, I could never begin to tell you just how much that means to me.”

**Here, Keith, there is a room in the way back, but it gets cold in there, because it’s so far away from the core engine, just bring enough blankets, okay?**

A door to my right slides open and Pidge pushes past me and walks inside before I can even tell them anything. 

“Are there changes of clothes in here?” 

**Yes.**

“Alright, Pidge, wait up for me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay for real though, probably not another chapter for a week now, since school starts up again on like Tuesday  
> Damn


	9. True Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is the best boyfriend™

I awake to the tapping of a keyboard and Pidge swearing loudly.  
“What’re you doing?” I mumble, kicking their legs off me.  
“Making plans to rebuild Rover,” they answer, putting their legs right back up on me. “It’s just frustrating, because I need to find the materials to physically build it, but extra Galra parts are so fucking expensive. I’m going to go out today to get enough to replicate them and sell them back and make enough of a profit to gain all the parts. This’ll take forever, which sucks, because I still have the code I used to reprogram Rover, I just don’t have a suitable host for it. I just want Rover back, god.”  
“I’ll come with you today, it’s better than staying here with only Red.”  
Pidge shoves their cold feet under my thighs and sighs, “Okay.”  
**Good morning sleepy head.**  
“Is it that late?”  
**Yes, you slept for approximately 12 hours.**  
“We should go get breakfast,” I tell Pidge, two seconds away from confiscating their computer, just to stop that annoying typing.  
**The yellow paladin came by while you were sleeping to drop by food, I let him in to leave it in the cockpit, you do not mind, do you?**  
“Of course not, where is it?”  
**He left it in your chair.**  
“The pilot’s chair?”  
**Yes.**  
“Hunk left food for us,” I inform Pidge, and just like that they’re gone.  
I race after them, nearly tripping over the too long sweatpants that I found.  
They’re already digging in by the time I get there, pulling a face every time they take a bite.  
“God it’s so bad,” they complain, sitting on the arm of my pilot’s chair. “Come suffer with me.”  
**Um, Keith?**  
“Hang on Red, let me have something to eat.”  
**No your partner is screaming outside.**  
“Partner?”  
**Mate? I don’t know what humans call them.**  
“Mate?”  
**Oh! Boyfriend. That’s what you call them.**  
“Lance is outside?!”  
**Yes, and he’s yelling.**  
“Oh my, I don’t even have a shirt on. He’s yelling?”  
**“Keith get your goddamn ass out here before I...I go get Blue to help me!”**  
“Did he really say that?”  
**Sadly, yes, why do you like this human?**  
“I ask myself that quite a lot, I don’t know.”  
**Shall I open the cockpit?**  
I glance over to Pidge, but they’re still eating the food goo that Hunk left for us. _I still don’t have a shirt on._  
“You know what? Sure, let him in.”  
**Alright.**  
More light floods into the room as Red opens her jaw and Pidge hisses at the light and glares at me, “It’s too early for this!”  
“It’s like noon I think.”  
“It’s too early for this!” they repeat, dramatically draping themself over my chair.  
“Keith!”  
**He sprinted in here like his life depended on it, oh god, it was so funny Keith, I wish you could’ve seen.**  
“Good morning Lance,” I greet, forcibly moving Pidge so I can sit down in my chair. “What was that about getting Blue to help you?”  
“Oh...she’s actually not talking to me, she yelled at me last night for making you cry. Which I’m sorry for, by the way. Really fucking sorry. Also you’re shirtless, I just noticed that, jesus.”  
“Slow down,” Pidge orders, before I can say anything. “Keith is getting overwhelmed. Just say what you came to say, god, he doesn’t need this shit right now.”  
**Ooh, your small angry friend is even angrier than they normally are.**  
“I’m so sorry about last night, I was just startled, you know? I mean I’ve never dated a half Galra before, or like, anyone. Just kind of surprising? I’m sorry if I made you feel like I didn’t love you anymore or something stupid like that, because I do love you, a lot. I still want to fight alongside with you and train with you and yell at you when you do impulsive, and dangerous things and listen to you complain about how bad the food is and tell Pupicha bedtime stories and- Sorry, I’m just really sorry. To you, and to Pidge, you shouldn’t have had to be alone last night, either of you, not after Pidge yelled at Allura.”  
“That’s a lot to process,” I mutter, leaning heavily against Pidge, who just runs their fingers gently through my hair.  
“I know! You don’t have to say anything, I just needed you to know that. I can leave now, if you want?”  
“No, just, give me a moment.” I turn to Pidge and drop the poker face to make way for anger, “You yelled at the princess!”  
“Fuck. Listen, she said some really bad shit to you! It seriously messed you up! I know it did, because you fucking said-”  
“No, Lance will hear,” I shush them, but they come back with a vengeance.  
“You know what? I want Lance to hear! I want him to go back and tell everyone what you said! Because if they’re going to do this to you, they should know how you feel.”  
“You’re right,” I sigh, and it adds to Pidge’s fire.  
“Hey Lance! You know what Keith said after Allura destroyed him in his weakest moment? He was curled up on the floor and he said, ‘I should’ve died back in the Galra prison.’ Yeah! He was sobbing his eyes out too, and I think he really fucking meant it! Allura is dead to me until she apologizes on her hands and knees to Keith and goes to the ends of the universe to convince him it doesn’t matter that he’s Galra, because no one should feel like they deserved to die. I can forgive Shiro, I can forgive Kanji, they have some serious PTSD, and until they can get over it enough to be around Keith, that’s fine, they didn’t look Keith in the eye and tell him to leave. That everyone wanted him gone and she didn’t want him in her sight anymore, that absolute b-”  
“Pidge, please, that’s enough.”  
 **They're right though.**  
“You’re upsetting Lance,” I argue, trying to soothe the tremors going through their body.  
And they are, Lance is frozen in his spot, tears slowly starting to build in his eyes.  
“Is that true?” he asks, body starting to shake.  
“Yes, and I still wish that. I should’ve died.”  
All is silent for a moment before Lance starts sobbing, throwing himself at me to hug me so hard I can’t breathe. He climbs up into my lap and buries his face in my hair, all the while ranting, “I love you so much, and I don’t care that you’re Galra, I love you, I’m glad I saved you, you deserve to live. Oh my god, I’m so glad you exist and that you’re alive and-”  
Pidge worms their way into the tight hug and faces me, fire in their eyes, “I like having you around, and I don’t want you to die.”  
“Exactly!” Lance cries, pulling Pidge closer in our group hug.  
**I love you too, you know that, don’t you, my paladin? I like having you as my paladin, and I don’t want anyone else to pilot me.**  
“I love you too, Red. I know, I know, and there’s no other ship I want to pilot.”  
“C’mere,” Lance demands, taking my face in his hands and resting his forehead against mine. “You are important, you are loved, and nothing will change that. Not if you’re an asshole, or if you’re Galra. It doesn’t matter, I will always love you, will always treasure you as the fire to my ice. The red to my blue. Nothing in the world will ever change that.”  
“Gross guys, I’m right here, I am but a child, do not make out in front of me please.”  
“Then leave,” Lance taunts, licking my cheek.  
“Oh that’s fucking disgusting Lance, what the hell!” I shout, pushing him off my lap.  
“Rude. I was just trying to have a moment and Pidge ruined it, so I decided to ruin their appetite.”  
“Okay but why did you lick my face.”  
“It was the first thing I thought of.”  
“Gee thanks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New Year's present  
> For real! New update next week


	10. Sweater Weather

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> we're nearing the end now

“We still don’t have to do this Keith.”

“I want to sit down and have a normal meal, okay? I want to talk things out like normal people do, not ignore everyone and hide in my lion.”

The hallway opens out and we’re in the dining room. Allura, Coran, Shiro, and all the Hershes are already seated, and Hunk is dishing out food. 

Lance squeezes my hand as Pidge clears their throat and awkwardly waves to Hunk. 

Shiro twitches, but manages to send me a shaky smile and pats the seat next to him. I give him a watery smile and take the offered seat. 

“Nice to see you again, Keith,” he says, bringing up his human arm to rub my shoulder. “Are you doing alright?”

Lance settles in the seat next to mine and takes my hand again. 

“I’m doing okay, not as good as I could be. Which I’m sure everyone knows, unless Lance stopped talking to you about it?”

“He did, actually? What’s going on?”

“Well-”

“How are all of you just sitting here!” Allura bursts, slamming her hands down on the table. “As if Keith isn’t Galra? He is! Okay, he’s still part of the species that killed my father, my mother, my little brothers and sisters! My entire race! How? How are all of you just talking to him like everything is normal? Everything is not normal, things won’t ever go back to the way they were before, not now, not ever. I want Keith out of my sight!”   
I nod somberly and go to stand up, but Lance stops me. 

Pidge is standing up, stalking over to the princess, poised to hit her, but Coran stops them.    
“I’m sorry for her behavior, but I cannot allow you to hurt the princess,” he says sadly, slowly lowering Pidge’s arm. 

“Coran! I thought you’d be with me on this! He’s Galra, don’t you understand? How can he be a paladin, if he’s the one thing we’re meant to fight against? How hasn’t the red lion rejected him yet? Why is he still allowed to walk these halls of my castle as if my race isn’t dead because of his?”   
“Princess, that’s enough.”

“Yeah, princess! That’s enough, Keith doesn’t need this bullshit, he’s dealing with enough self hate as it is, he doesn’t need yours too!” Pidge yells, but their voice is cracking. 

“Pidge don’t cry for me anymore,” I say, but it’s too quiet, and they don’t hear me. 

“I know you aren’t saying it, but you and everyone else knows you wish Keith were dead! You’re the reason he wishes he were too! If you had just kept those vile thoughts to yourself, Lance and I wouldn’t be afraid that he would try to kill himself every fucking second of every day. So fuck off, Allura. Never talk to him like that again. Next time I won’t let Coran stop me.”

Allura sits back in her chair, speechless. 

“Come on, Keith, Lance, we’re going to go back to Red.”

Shiro grabs me before I get up, with his Galra arm, his expression pained. 

“I’m sorry,” he chokes. 

“It’s not your fault,” I assure him. 

“It is, if I could get over this and be around you more maybe you wouldn’t feel like this a-”

“I’d feel like this with or without you Shiro, it’s not your fault, don’t feel guilty.”

He nods and lets go of my arm. 

“I’ll start bringing food to you guys, if you want?” Hunk wrings his hands as obvious tears streak down his cheeks. 

“That’d be great Hunk.”

I smile at him, bringing him in for a quick hug. 

“Keef, can I come with you?”   
Pupicha clings to my leg, her eyes bright and wide, unknowing of what just went down at the table. 

“It’s better if-”

“I’ll come too,” Kanji murmurs, standing up from her seat and coming to stand beside me. “If you do not mind?”   
“Oh, alright.”

“Let’s go, then.”

 

*

 

“I did not realize you...had these thoughts? I cannot understand why you would want to die when you are barely able to survive as it is, but I do understand that wanting to die is the ultimate form of self hate. Lance explained it to me, one day, while we were in the prison.” Kanji wraps her wings around me, “I’m sorry you feel this way, Keith. I am so very sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, it’s not anyone’s fault besides mine. I’m the one thinking like this, there’s no use in being sorry about it, that’s just how things are.”

“I still cannot help but feel like I had a hand in this. So I will be sorry anyways.”

Kanji doesn’t retract her wings from around me, so I don’t pull away. 

**The small child would like your attention, but she’s too shy to approach the Queen.**

“Hold on Kanji, I’m going to go get Pupicha.”

“Wait, Keith. I’d like to say one more thing before you get the child.”   
“Yes?”   
“I am sorry for the way I acted earlier, when I told you that because you were a Galra you couldn’t be nice, that is not true. Not all Galras are bad, you are living proof of that fact.”

“Thank you Kanji, you don’t know how much that means to me.”

“Sweet thang? Pidge wants you, they’re in the other room. Said something about finally getting those parts?” Lance sidles up next to me and wraps his arm around my waist. 

I blush at the nickname and nod, “Yeah we’re going to go get parts to rebuild Rover.”   
“Ha, and then what sexy?” Lance winks at me.

“Stop or I'll breakup with you I swear.”

“That's an empty threat. Anyway, who are you 

taking?”

“We’re gonna go in Gizmo. And we’ll just go alone, it's a peaceful trading planet with no Galra influence, we’ll be fine.”

“If you say so babe, you going now?”

“Yeah, entertain the Hershes, tell Pupicha hello for me.” I stand on my tip toes and kiss Lance’s cheek. “Bye darling.”

“Oh goodness,” Lance murmurs, touching his cheek lightly. 

I slip out of Lance’s hold and exit Red, meeting Pidge outside of Gizmo.

**Bye Keith! Have a safe trip!**

“Bye Red, I'll be back soon, don't wait up.”

“Aw, you talk to your lion, that's fucking adorable,” Pidge coos, taking their spot in the pilot’s seat. 

“Do you not?”

“Psh of course I do. Don't I, Gizmo? Who's my pretty girl? Hell yeah it's you! Let's blow this joint.”

 

*

 

“Fucking salesmen, never gonna get away from the universal ‘kiosque problem’, that guy tried to sell me scale cream! I obviously don't have scales, but I fucking bought it! Keith I bought it!”

“Truly the most terrifying thing that's happened to us yet.”

“At least we got what we needed, if I can do this fast enough we’ll have Rover 2.0 before the month is over! Thanks Keith.”

“Well it’s not like I min-”

“Paladins! Another ship docked with you, is this intentional?” Allura crackles over our comms, panicked. 

_ She referred to me as a paladin.  _

“No! We didn’t bring anyone back, did they follow us?” 

I hand the parts I’m carrying to Pidge, “You go put these away, I’ll go see who it is. Come join me when the parts are safe.”

I creep up to the small ship that’s docked next to the Green lion and tap on the window. 

“Why did you follow us?”   
“Katie was with you, was she not?”   
“Pidge? Yeah, they were. Who the hell are you?”   
The door to the ship opens and out steps…

“Matt!”   
Pidge runs past me and tackles the figure that came out of the ship. 

“Katie! Holy shit, what the hell is this...lion? It’s gigantic! You fly this? How have you been? That guy called you Pidge? And who is that guy? Why’d you buy that scale cream? Do you know where Dad is?”

“Keef is back!” 

Pupicha barrels into my legs and I pick her up, setting her carefully on my shoulders. 

I nod to Matt and hold out my hand, “You must be Matt, Pidge has been looking for you. It’s nice to finally meet you, I’m Keith.”

“Oh, again, he called you Pidge?”   
“We’ve got some catching up to do. Scram! Go cuddle up with your boyfriend.”

“Wow, you used ‘scram’, maybe I shouldn’t help you rebuild Rover after all, if you’re so mean to me.”

Pidge shakes their head and lightly kicks my foot, “Chill out. We’ll talk later. Why don’t you go let Allura know who’s here, and I’m sure Shiro would love to say hello as well.”

“Holy shit, Shiro is here?”   
“Yeah bro, you have no idea.”

“Keef, Lance has been waiting for you, wants to talk. He says it’s very very very very very important. He told me to make sure I said very 5 times so you’d know how important it is.”

“Oh, did he now? Well where is he?”   
Pupicha wiggles around on my shoulders until I put her down and she races over to the next hangar, Blue’s. 

“He’s painting! He told me he would paint me a flower if I came to get you!”   
“Lance, love?”   
Lance peeks around one of Blue’s leg and smiles at me, Pupicha running over to hug him. 

I try, I really do, but I can’t help but laugh. He’s covered in blue paint, and there’s a dick in yellow on his cheek. 

“Did Hunk help you?”

“Well for a little bit, but then he went to actually make a good dinner tonight. No goo!”

“Lance! I want a flower now!”   
“Yes yes, Pupicha, I know. What color should I make it?”

“Mm, purple!”   
“Oh, is purple your favorite color?” Lance hums, dragging over a red paint can to mix some purple. “Purple is my favorite color, I think. It’s very pretty.”

“Really? I thought blue was your favorite color!” 

“Well blue is very nice, but I don’t know. There is a bit of blue in purple, didn’t you know? Red and blue make purple.” Lance grins lazily at me and starts mixing the paint. 

“Woah! That’s so cool Lance! Keef what’s your favorite color? Is it red?”   
I sit next to Lance and start helping him mix the paint, “Well. I think purple may be my favorite color too actually, Lance makes quite the compelling argument.”

“Get over here, Pupicha. You gotta stay still, alright?”   
Pupicha nods and plops down on Lance’s lap. He dips a thin paintbrush in the purple and starts painting a...a dahlia flower onto Pupicha’s cheek. His strokes are careful, precise, and he when he’s done he leaves a dot on Pupicha’s nose and kisses her forehead. 

“Beautiful!” he coos, helping her stand up. “Why don’t you go see Kanji? I have to talk to Keith.”

Pupicha runs out of the room, nearly tripping over herself in her haste to move. 

“Bye Keef! Bye Lance!”   
“I want one too,” I demand, curling into Lance’s side. 

“A what?”   
“A flower.”

“Oh, alright, stand still for a moment then.”

Lance dips his paintbrush back in the paint and brings it up to my cheek. It tickles, but I do stay still. 

“I talked to Allura the other day, about the shit she’s been giving you. I was gonna pull a Pidge and yell at her a bit, try to talk some sense into her, but the only thing she asked me is if you were still alive. If you were, did you still think about killing yourself? How were the lions? Pidge? Me? No one’s talking to her obviously. Hell, she didn’t even know if you were still alive. I don’t forgive her, but I think you two need to talk things out a little. I’ll come with you, if you want, but I just...I feel kind of bad. It’s obviously not your fault her species is dying out, but she went through a lot of bullshit, and I think she’s trying to redeem herself. You missed it, she was tracking you while you and Pidge were out, and when that other ship appeared behind you she started freaking out. Coran barely stopped her from going out there herself and shooting that poor ship out of the sky. It was Matt, wasn’t it? I thought I heard Pidge talking to him. Here, you can go ahead and talk now, I’m finished.”

“I actually did plan on talking to Allura today, and yeah. Matt’s here, and Pidge is really excited. I actually was supposed to go tell Shiro he was here, but I got sidetracked.”

“Well you go ahead, I think...that I’m going to paint one on Blue too.”

“A Dahlia?”   
“Well, yes. I have a vision, go talk to Allura and Shiro, I’ll be here when you’re done.”

“Goodbye, love,” I whisper, kissing Lance’s cheek and scurrying out of the room. 

“Bye baby!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be mostly updating asap as finals approach and my schedule messes up, so the chapters will come out just whenever I have time, sorry in advance for the erratic updates


	11. All of Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance paints a lot and Keith talks to Shiro and Allura

“Shiro?”

I curse how quiet my voice has suddenly become. I am the red paladin, and I bow to no one. 

“Shiro?”

“Keith?”

“Pidge sent me down-”

“I haven’t seen you a while, sit down, sit down. How are you and Lance doing? Red? You feeling any better?”   
“O-oh. Well, Lance and I are doing great, and I’m going to repaint Red in a few days. And I actually am feeling better, thanks. That’s beside the point, Pidge and I just went on a supply run and someone followed us back. Before you freak out, it’s Matt. I think you should go see him, he asked about you and-”

“Matt’s here?”   
“Did I not just say that?”   
“You’re not...joking though, right?”

“I would never lie about something like this. Go say hi, he’s in Gizmo’s hangar.”

“Did you need anything else or-”

“Shiro. Go.”

He takes a deep breath and smiles shakily at me, before walking out of the room, breaking into a spring halfway down the hallway. 

_ I’m happy for him.  _

 

-

 

“My paladin, I was blindsided by my own personal problems, and refused to hear you out. That is my fault alone, I hope you understand I didn’t mean to harm you, and no excuse would justify what I said to you.”   
In the end, Allura finds me, before I can find her. 

“It’s partially my fault. I shouldn’t have sprung it on you like that, knowing that you hadn’t healed from what happened to your father and your people. You can’t take all the blame.”   
“You’re a paladin of Voltron, I should’ve known that you weren’t evil, the red lion wouldn’t have chosen you if you were. I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t be forgiven for this, and my actions were unjust, I don’t deserve to be a princes-”   
I hug Allura, overcome with the fact that I’m not despised by her anymore. 

“I’m still angry at you,” I whisper, but don’t stop hugging her. 

Allura gasps, suddenly pushing me away, “Who was it that followed you and Pidge here?”   
“Pidge’s brother, Matt. Everything’s okay. Shiro and Pidge are talking to him right now, so I’d suggest giving them some time to catch up before you go meet him. But I promise he’s not going to do anything.”   
Allura nods and pulls her hair back into a tight ponytail, “As it is right now, we’re having an emergency in the main engine room. I’m sorry, I must go help Coran repair a broken part, but we  _ will  _ talk more later, alright?”   
“Of course, Allura.”   
“Just...be cautious. It seems the broken part was broken on purpose, perhaps earlier, when we landed briefly, someone snuck on, I’m not sure. Just be careful.”   
  
-

 

“Lan-” I cut off, staring in wonder at the mural Lance is painting on the side of Blue. 

A large, purple Dahlia flower is the centerpiece, and smaller blue and red flowers are twisting, curling around each other around it. 

Lance is accenting the shadows as I walk closer, and it’s only when I’m standing right next to him that he acknowledges me. 

“Hello sweetheart, I’d kiss you but I don’t want to mess this part up. Did you talk to Allura?”   
“Uh, yeah. This is really good, it’s absolutely stunning-”   
“Backtrack, you  _ did  _ talk to Allura?”   
“Yeah, um, she apologized. We’re going to talk more later, she said there’s something that needs to be fixed asap? I’m not sure, she seemed panicked.”

“Come here,” Lance commands, pulling away from his mural to look at me. 

I lean a little closer and Lance kisses my nose, before pulling back and wrestling with me until I’m laying half in his lap, half on the floor. 

I pout, but stay still. 

“What’re you doing?”   
“I have an idea for a mural on Red, but I want to practice it first and also get you to agree. What better way, than to paint it on your face?”   
The paintbrush tickles on my cheek, and a few minutes in Lance decides he doesn’t have enough room and makes me take my shirt off so he can paint down my neck and trickle onto my chest. He switches his paintbrush and dips into the red paint, then runs off for a few moments, before coming back with more paints. He moves from my chest to my stomach, then doubles back to split off and go down my sides. 

_ What in the world is he painting? _

“It doesn’t look horrible,” he muses, setting down his paintbrush. 

“Oi!” Pidge comes strolling in, Matt and Shiro at their heels. “Mat-holy shit.”

Suddenly they’re rushing over, running their hands over my face, chest, stomach, asking who did this. 

“Lance did.”   
“Lance! This is amazing!”   
Shiro disappears into the other room, only to come back with a mirror. 

“You probably wanna take a look at this.”

I hold the mirror up and away from my body, inspecting the colors of sharp blue and white crawling up my face. Ice, cracking ice, decorating my cheek, going up to my eyes, before they’re interrupted by a sudden splotch of flames. Big and angry flames, licking at the ice. Just past it, streams of water flow down my chest, melting into puddles at my hips. The fire meets it there, mellow, warm. It’s colors are less sharp, more dull yellows and oranges than red. The water curls around it, turning into steam that curls around my sides and arms. The steam then circles around up to my cheeks and attaches to the ice.

An endless circle.

“Um...sorry. I want to tell you more about it, but it's kind of private,” Lance says sheepishly, looking around at Pidge, Matt, and Shiro.

They immediately turn and leave.

“Have fun!” Pidge calls as they leave the hangar.

“That was easy.” Lance shrugs, leaning forward to kiss my painted skin. “It's our love story.”

“What?”

“We were too much when we met, and clashed too much. In the end it helped both of us, as I melted and you became a little more tame. Then we were able to exist together, rinse, repeat. There's always another love story like ours, but none is as beautiful.”

“Oh.”

“I want to paint it on Red.”

“Yeah, okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this is late, I just have exams soon, so I'm balancing two longfics and studying. It should pick up after exams are over, but we're nearing the end of the fic anyways so...


End file.
